Before the Temple
by firekid44
Summary: Set before the Xiaolin monks joined the temple. Kimiko takes a holiday in Brazil and meets a mysterious boy. Another rubbish summary from Firekid44!


"Stop, thief!" Raimundo ran down the street, a crowd in hot pursuit. He stuffed the steak in his bag and quickly turned down a side alley. He grabbed the pipe and climbed. As he reached the top he saw the crowd appear in the alley. He shrank back as one of them looked up.

"Now, what's going on?" shouted a policeman. One man stepped forward.

"I saw a boy stealing from my stall!" he cried. "He took my prize steak!"

"Well, he's not here now," said another. The crowd thinned out and soon the alley was empty. Raimundo sighed. This was his life now.

"Wow, I can't believe we're in Rio!" gasped Kimiko as she looked around. Her father smiled.

"Well, I'll be busy today, so you can explore. Be back at the hotel by seven!" he called, walking away. The girl wandered through the markets, the men shouting, and smells drifting around. Eventually she reached a beach. She took off her sandals and felt the soft sand beneath her feet. She was so happy, however, she didn't watch where she was going.

Raimundo rolled over and hit his head on a rock. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up and looked around the beach. Under the shade of the rock, he'd slept through the morning. He saw a small girl wandering towards him. He watched in awe before noticing she was on the pier. He was sure she didn't know where she was going. She was going to fall off the end of the pier. He dropped his bag, and ran towards her, but it was clear he wouldn't reach her. He opened his mouth to shout 'Stop!', but he couldn't. Instead, he shouted…

"WIND!" Kimiko turned her head to see a tall Brazilian boy standing there before she fell forward into the water. But as she fell, she felt a force pushing her, and she felt the wind – the wind that had just appeared out of nowhere – push her back onto the pier. She gasped and turned around again – hadn't that boy said 'Wind'? But he was nowhere to be seen. She shrugged and walked away.

"What's happening to me?" Raimundo asked himself. "Why did I say 'wind'? What good would that do? Though it was lucky that she managed to get back up…" He paced up and down the beach as he waited for the fire to heat up. After a while, it was hot enough to use. He ripped off a chunk of meat and held it over the fire. As he finished, a policeman came up to him. He pulled up his hood to cover his face.

"Did you light this fire?" the man asked.

"Yes sir," he replied, trying to disguise his voice.

"Well, I should take you back to the station," muttered the policeman. Raimundo's eyes widened at this. "But I'm busy, so I'll let you off. I'm looking for a boy, about twelve years old, brown hair, green eyes. Tell me if you see him." The man walked away, and Raimundo grabbed his bag and stood up. He could have got away, but noticed some money in the policeman's back pocket. He couldn't resist. He snatched the money and fled. The policeman noticed and chased him. For the second time that week, Raimundo found himself fleeing from a crowd as the beach-goers chased him as well.

Kimiko heard a noise behind her. He stepped back as a boy rushed past her, followed by a crowd of people. The policeman grabbed him and shook him by the collar.

"Thought you could get away with stealing from me, did you?" he shouted, and shook him again, causing the hood to slip off. Kimiko recognised him as the boy that saved her earlier, in some supernatural way.

"Don't hurt him!" she squealed.

"Hey! I've been looking for you! Two offences in one week! You're coming with me!" He dragged the boy back to the station and took him into a small room.

"Sorry, young lady, authorised personnel only!" growled the guard at the door. Kimiko sat on a bench and waited.

"What's the charge on this one?" groaned the chief. Two policemen held the struggling boy.

"Theft and… err… more theft," muttered the officer.

"Constant theft. Well, if he's old enough to steal, he's old enough to get punished. Lock him away for a week."

Raimundo stared around the cell. There wasn't much too it, just a bed, a door and a flap to let through food. He sighed and sat on the bench. It all went wrong after his parents died in a boating accident. He need a way to get food, and he didn't have any money. He lay down and shut his eyes.

"I need to visit him!" the girl cried. "Please let me through!"

"No-one can visit prisoners without ID." Kimiko searched her pockets and finally found her passport.

"You're Mr Tohomiko's daughter?" the guard gasped. "I'll give you ten minutes. Cell number 5 on the right." The girl walked past the cells. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. She knocked on the door and heard someone stirring on the other side.

"Dinner already?" he muttered. After a pause, he said: "It's only half three!"

"No, I'm visiting you."

'A visitor? Who'd be visiting me?'

"You saved my life this morning."

"What?"

"I nearly drowned!"

'Oh yeah,' he thought. 'But how did I save her? I didn't do anything…'

"I think you've got the wrong person. I was too far away and I couldn't even say the right thing! Someone must have pushed you up or something."

"No! I heard you, shouting 'Wind', then I felt a gust of wind blowing me back onto the pier. It must've been you!"

"Okay, that's ten minutes!" came another voice from the other side of the door. "Get out!"

"Okay," the girl sighed. Raimundo saw the flap open and a hand appeared. He took it and she gave his hand a squeeze. He squeezed back and let go. Then she withdrew her hand and he heard her go.

"So, Kimiko, how did you like Brazil?" asked her father the next day as they boarded the plane. She shook her head to clear it.

"It was good. Thanks," she replied.

Then, a year later, she arrived at the Xiaolin Temple, exited. She saw the cowboy first, then she saw Raimundo. He smiled at her, and she knew it was him. And he knew it was her. But neither of them ever mentioned it.


End file.
